I know I should probably use some sort of security on my phone, but it's just too annoying whenever you try and unlock your phone quickly. I had used the screen pattern before and got annoyed after a couple weeks.
Yep, my feelings exactly. My phone is always on my person which seems to be secure enough for me. I know I should care more about security, but I just can't bring myself to do it. One day I may regret this laziness....
I sincerely hope you don't have cause to regret it, but would urge you to consider trying it out for a week. Set a really simple 4-digit numeric code that's very easy to type and have it activate every time your phone goes to idle. I bet you'll find within a day or two that SWIPE-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP becomes fast and easy.
With a simple password like that, if you can I'd also set a "x strikes and your're out" policy that nukes the phone after, say, 20 tries. That way, you have 20 chances to get it right (which should be plenty), but so does a potential phone thief (which gives them a 0.2% chance of happening on the right code before the phone does a little factory-reset dance, wiping your data clean).
I don't know how short a PIN can be set in Android - my only one has been locked and the settings are somewhat sadistic (7 character password, 15 minute autolock, 10 retries before the nuclear option is taken).
I feel your pain about not wanting the password, though. I've been trying to convince my wife to PIN-lock her phone with a very basic password since she got it, to no avail.
I *usually* use a pattern, but with a fairly generous timeout grace period.
I know that it's not the best security option by a longshot, but it does provide me with two things:
1. Should my phone be lost, anyone that finds it probably won't be able to get my personal info. Granted, if stolen or if the person REALLY wants to get at it, they'll be able to, but it keeps standard curiosities at bay.
2. Keeps my "friends" from playing fun practical jokes on me by using my unattended phone to post things (as me) to FB, twitter, email, whatever. Granted, as I've gotten older, the risk of this has become much less, but there have been plenty of times in the past where alcohol+friends+unattended phone = embarrassing posts.
I made sure to use a pattern that (A) can't easily be guessed by observing the streak marks on the screen and (B) I can easily swipe quickly while holding with one hand. Rarely takes more than an extra second to get into my phone.